Full-time trainees usually join a GP training scheme in August. Providing they remain full-time and don’t take any ‘additional leave’ (see definition below) from their post, they will rotate through jobs every 6 months (February and August) and they will move up an ST stage every 12 months (i.e. August every year). They will leave the scheme in August after completing 3 years. During this time, the RCGP says that trainees must always have a minimum of 4 types of reviews.

TWO ES meetings every year (December & May – i.e roughly month 4 and month 9)

ONE ARCP panel EVERY year to review how they are doing (we call it a PROGRESS ARCP review)

ONE ARCP panel JUST BEFORE an ST transition (e.g. ST1 to ST2, ST2 to ST3, ST3 to CCT) move. This has to happen WITHIN 8 weeks of the actual transition or CCT date (the ideal is 4 weeks before). This review is to ensure that the trainee has met the stipulated requirements for trainee to enable approval of that move. (we call it a TRANSITION ARCP review)

There is one additional rule: an ARCP panel can only take place within the 2 months preceding the transition – and not any longer.

Definition (Additional leave): is leave that is not anticipated. For instance, sick leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, carer’s leave, jury service, extended compassionate leave and so on. If you take more than 2 weeks leave on top of what is usually allowed (annual leave & study leave) in any one year, you will need to make up for that time. Making up for that time can make you become ‘out of sync’.

That sounds like a lot of meetings! But the good news is that for full-time trainees, meetings 2 and 3 can be combined and both done at a single ARCP panel meeting (usually in June) shortly after the second ES meeting (usually in May) . So, all full-time trainees end up having 3 meetings not four. Now, if all trainees were full-time and never took any sort of additional leave (like sick leave, sabbatical, or maternity), then things would be very easy for GP training schemes to administer. Simply put – GP training schemes would need to ensure that everyone’s Educational Supervision happened every December and May of every year with all the ARCPs in June. A reminder to trainees of these deadline dates would help keep them on track before smoothly leaving the scheme after the 3rd year in August. And the cycle would then restart with the new intake of GP trainees.

But life isn’t as easy as that…

Some trainees need to take additional leave and when they do, it means that they no longer start and finish subsequent posts at February or August time. Instead, they start and finish at some other month and this means that their Educational Supervision might not fall on December and May and neither will their ARCPs in June. In other words, they become ‘out-of-sync’ to the other trainees. These meetings (ES & ARCP) will fall on other months – and it will be different for each individual trainee. Therefore, mass reminders (e.g. full time trainees being told to get everything ‘ES/ARCP ready’ just before December and May, and expect an ARCP in June) are no longer applicable to part-timers. The only way to ensure the trainee is on track is if each out-of-sync trainee works out when their ES and ARCP is due for each year and keeps this log up to date. We will provide guidance on this website how to do that.

Please note, the following is guidance not policy and that this page ha been created to help you and make life easier.

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So, what sorts of things can make you become out of sync?

Maternity Leave

Going part-time (for whatever reason)

Extended sickness leave

Carer’s Leave

Out of Programme Experience

Other types of leave which totals to greater than 2 weeks in any one year (not including Annual or Study Leave) – e.g. a combination of jury leave, compassionate leave, sick leave etc.

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If I am Less Than Full-Time (i.e. part-time), how many assessments do I need to do?

If you are part time – then the minimum number of WPBA assessments that you need to do is reduced pro-rata accordingly. So, a part time ST2 trainee doing a 1 year post at 50% needs to do a MINIMUM of 1.5 CBDs every 6 months (or 3 in the 12 month period). An similar 50% trainee at ST3 level would need to do a minimum of 3 CBDs every 6 months (or 6 in the 12 month period). Please remember, these are MINIMUMS – and you should be aiming to do a lot more. This summary of the minimum assessments required for a full-timer who is ‘in-sync’ should help you work out what you need to do on a pro-rata basis: Assessments – which ones at which ST stage?

An ARCP marked off as OOP whilst the trainee was away is still considered and ARCP. The gold guide does not talk about different types of ARCP and an ARCP = any ARCP whether in programme or not. The trainee does need an ARCP every year – if this falls on maternity or some other leave the trainee is given an outcome 8 – OOP and a further ARCP date is set, usually about 12 months after that. It is acceptable to the Certification Unit to add a note to the comments section of an OOP ARCP outcome form to confirm that a period of training has been reviewed and deemed to be satisfactory, even though the outcome is OOP as the trainee is not in training when the panel takes place. We would encourage the ARCP reviewers to do this. The important thing to remember is that trainees should not have periods of training which are not assessed at ARCP, (it can be difficult to fully review a period and ESR done a long time ago so booking an ARCP to prevent this is often useful). This will also ensure that the trainee gets feedback and directions for actions if appropriate as close to the period of training as possible.

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Can I Moonlight if I am Part TIME?

Moonlighting is any job you have secondary to your primary job. It doesn’t have to relate to your main job.Trainees who are eligible for LTFTT should note that it is the policy of the Yorkshire and the Humber Postgraduate Deanery that they are not permitted to undertake any regular employment, either within or out of the NHS, in addition to their 50% timetable and their timetabled out of hours work. However, if there is a requirement within the department for an occasional additional shift due to unexpected circumstances (ie sick leave) trainees are encouraged to assist their fellow team members, it should be noted that this is not for planned absences (i.e. annual leave).

DISCLAIMER: Medical information on this website is provided "as is" without any representations or warranties, express or implied. Bradford VTS does not warrant that the medical information on this website is complete, true, accurate, up-to-date or non-misleading. It is provided for educational purposes only and not as medical advice.